Shadowed Secrets
by mossball
Summary: When Dipper and Mabel go out to search for a mysterious pond, they meet much more than they expected when they tumble right into ShadowClan camp!
1. Prologue

Cats swarmed around the sparkling pool of water, exchanging discontent murmurs with one another as a few others sat motionless, staring into the water that showed an aerial view of a lake. One cat murred angrily and turned her face from the water, her flattened face displaying her disgust with no effort to disguise it. A bluish queen looked up from the pool, her eyes narrowing at the grey queen for her distaste, a purr quietly humming through her starry body. A translucent tom flicked his eyes to the blue queen with widened eyes, his thick tail patting on the cloudy ground as he processed what he had just been shown.

A bright black queen joined them, her eyes closed and her ears positioned down to the sides of her face. The blue queen looked away from the grey queen and acknowledged the raven-pelted cat. Her eyes widened considerably and her purr ceased as she focused on her.

"The others are upset, and I don't blame them," the dark queen said, finally. "A future like this can only spell the end. Relying on two to save an entire Clan?"

The blue queen purred, her eyes narrowing again. "Oh, Hollyleaf. Don't tell me that you, of all cats, actually believe that."

"I believe that a pawful of _cats_ can fulfil such a destiny," Hollyleaf huffed with a flick of her tail.

"Exactly," jutted the grey queen, "and these are _not_ cats. Do you really think we can expect them to be any help, Bluestar?"

Bluestar simply looked back down to the pool, the subjects in question rippling into view. "We shall see, won't we, Yellowfang?"


	2. Chapter 1

Dipper ran as fast as his scrawny legs could carry him, dodging trees and bushes not-so-easily as he nearly slipped onto his face several times. The adrenaline pumped in his ears, the stomping of feet on the ground behind him only fuelled it farther as each thud drew closer and closer.

"Roar!" screamed his pursuer, leaping ungracefully and tackling her prey to the ground in a flash of maroon sweater and brown hair. Mabel lifted herself from her brother's back, spitting hair from her face. "Caught you! You're it!"

Dipper picked his face up from the dirt, spitting out grass and dirt that had found their way into his mouth. "Do you have to be so predatory, Mabel? I think you broke one of my ribs with that landing." His voice dripped with breathlessness. He didn't even try to get up from there.

"What can I say? I guess I just have that killer instinct!" she replied with a giggle and a sharp jab in Dipper's side, causing him to curl up and scoot onto his side.

He took this burst of movement as leverage and heaved himself onto his butt, reaching his arms out to Mabel to which she pulled to help him up. Dipper placed his hands on his lower back and pushed until he realigned his spine with a satisfying _crunch_. "Mabel, I don't think I'm up for tag anymore. Can we get back to looking for the pond that we came out here to find?"

Mabel stuck out her bottom lip and rolled her eyes. "Fine, we can look for your magic puddle."

Dipper sighed and pulled the journal from his pocket in his vest, opening to the bookmarked page that had a map of where a small pond was located that was supposed to have magic properties. He oriented himself in the right direction and continued forward, his nose buried in the book as he whispered the wording to himself that described the magical properties of the pool. Quite a few times he almost ran into a tree, and once he did, smashing the book into his chest and his forehead into the rough bark of the pine tree. Mabel couldn't help but laugh and briefly tease him, which earned her a comically exaggerated stink face from her brother. Other than that, they covered ground quite quickly, feeling the dirt beneath them turn muddy and squishy as they approached a marsh.

Dipper looked up from the journal only now, noticing the abundance of frogs and reeds to be very uncharacteristic for mid-Oregon. He barely had any time to question it, as one backwards misstep sent him tumbling down a small hill.

Mabel squeaked in surprise but followed, albeit a bit more gracefully than her brother. The two children slid and skidded down until they found themselves lying and kneeling in a clearing that reeked of cats. Looking up, they noticed a group of cats staring back at them, their backs arched and claws visible. A large, white cat stood at the top of a flattened rock, its fur bushed like the rest. It opened its mouth as if it was going to hiss, but instead the twins heard something entirely different.

"Leave!" the cat said, in a deep, masculine voice.

Dipper and Mabel reoriented themselves and exchanged glances. "Did that cat just speak English?" Dipper asked Mabel, who nodded in reply.

"Did that Twoleg just talk?" echoed a feminine voice from the bushy mass of cats. The large white cat widened his eyes and leapt down, weaving out of the crowd from his landing point. His claws scraped the dirt as he approached, the fur along his spine fluffed up like his tail, which was held close to his side. He approached the twins with fear-scent apparent to each cat crowded behind him, though Dipper and Mabel could not detect it.

"Twoleg, you speak cat?" he questioned disbelievingly.

"Uh." Dipper didn't quite know what to say. He scooted closer to Mabel, trying not-so-subtly to position himself between her and the cat. "No?" he offered, adding, "Are you speaking English?"

The cat gave them a quizzical look, the fur on his back taming down slightly as he sheathed his claws. "What brings you here? Are you a patrol?"

Dipper and Mabel looked at each other again. Mabel was the one to answer now. "A patrol? No, we're looking for this pond that's somewhere around here."

"So you're here to steal our territory?" The white cat's fur bushed up again, soft growls of fear rumbling from both him and the cats behind him.

"No!" Dipper interjected. "We don't want your land, we're just looking for this pond that's supposed to be around here," he explained, pulling the journal from his vest and opening it to the bookmarked page. As he did this, the cats pulled back, once cat near the front of the crowd hissing out a "What is that?" Dipper picked up the book and showed it to the tom, pointing at the drawing of a small pond surrounded by rocky walls.

Another cat, a tabby, stepped up to join the white tom, noticeably smaller than him. It studied the drawing with narrowed eyes. "Blackstar, this looks like the Moonpool."

The white tom nodded. "I thought so, as well, Littlecloud," he murmured in reply, stepping back with him to address the twins. "So, what is it that you want with this pool?"

"Well, the book says that it has magical properties, like prophetic dreams and stuff. I was hoping to get some water from it." Dipper put the journal back in his vest and took out an empty water bottle to show to them.

Littlecloud and Blackstar exchanged glances and returned them to Dipper and Mabel. "What are your names?" Littlecloud asked, stepping forward gingerly.

"I'm Mabel and this is my brother, Dipper!" Mabel piped cheerily, hanging a sweater-paw arm around Dipper's shoulders as she introduced him.

Blackstar and Littlecloud looked at each other with odd looks on their faces. "What kind of name is Dipper?" Blackstar asked, Littlecloud replying with a shrug.

"It's the big dipper. You know, the constellation that looks like a spoon?" Dipper explained, pulling back his hair to show his birthmark as a reference.

Blackstar and Littlecloud were utterly lost, but did not question further. Blackstar looked behind him, padding closer to the crowd and calling out the name of Rowanclaw. Said ginger tom joined him as Littlecloud walked up and the three of them began to murmur amongst themselves. Dipper scooted closer, hoping to get a better ear of what they were talking about, whereas Mabel looked over at the nursery, where mothers tucked their kittens close to them in fear. One of the bigger kits began toddling toward her, its mother hissing at it to come back. It toddled its way over to her and Mabel proceeded to pick it up and cuddle it, letting it knead and claw on her cat sweater. The kit's mother cautiously walked over to her, and Mabel started petting her as well.

Littlecloud noticed this and mentioned it to the other two, who had to see for themselves. Indeed, Mabel had just befriended a queen and one of her kits. The group murmured for a few seconds longer before Blackstar took a step out of it, stepping toward the twins. "Dipper and Maple," he started.

"Ma_bel_," she corrected.

"Dipper and Ma_bel_," Blackstar repeated, "Rowanclaw, Littlecloud, and I have discussed and we think that having you in our Clan would prove useful for every cat."

Mabel lit up at the thought of being accepted into a giant cat family, and was about to agree before Dipper slapped a hand over her mouth and pulled her around to talk with her.

"Mabel, think. We may be getting in over our heads with this. Besides, we don't know if this is even _real_! It could be an illusion conjured by Bill or someone to trick us!" Dipper made for a good argument, but Mabel wanted to be a part of this big cat family, and she let Dipper know this. Dipper just rested his hand over his eyes and nodded. They turned around.

"Alright, uh...Blackstar? We'll be in your Clan," Dipper answered, defeated. Mabel squeaked in delight at the thought of becoming one with the cats.

"Good. We'll have your ceremonies immediately—" Blackstar was interrupted by a brown tom that stepped out of the crowd, a long scar down his back visible from the twins' perspective, which shocked them.

"Wait just a minute. You mean to tell us that you're accepting _Twolegs_ into our Clan? This is worse with ThunderClan and all their kittypet warriors!" He spoke loudly, a growl twanging his words.

Blackstar's flanks fluffed up slightly, but they were soon tamed down again. "Ratscar, think. Kittypets are weak and fat. Twolegs may not be quite so used to the life of a warrior but they are much bigger and stronger. Besides, if they can't handle it, we'll chase 'em out." The brown tom bared his teeth some, but retreated. Blackstar turned back to the twins. "I'm not so sure how to name you two, however. Especially you, Dipper."

Dipper raised a brow. "What do you mean, 'name' us?"

"Well, you're not warriors, for sure, so you'll be apprentices, but what would your names be?" he said, not really explaining anything to them.

"We like our names, but if you must change them then whatever."

Blackstar nodded to them and cut through the small crowd of cats that had long since calmed down. He leapt up to the ledge again and turned to Dipper and Mabel. "Well, come here." They did as they were asked.

Blackstar took a deep breath and began. "Dipper and Mabel, I have decided that you will join ShadowClan as apprentices. From now until you receive your warrior names, you will be known as Pinepaw and Maplepaw. Rowanclaw, you are ready to take on another apprentice, and I hope that your loyalty and cleverness will rub off on Pinepaw as you train him. Do you accept?"

Rowanclaw stepped toward Dipper, or rather Pinepaw, and announced his agreement.

"Then he shall be your apprentice."

Rowanclaw reached his nose toward Pinepaw, whispering "Now we touch noses," to him. Dipper knelt over awkwardly and touched his nose to Rowanclaw's.

"Maplepaw," Blackstar continued, addressing Mabel, "I will be mentoring you from now until you earn your warrior name." And he also jumped down, reaching up to meet Mabel's nose with his own.


	3. Chapter 2

The Clan offered weak murmurs of Dipper and Mabel's new names, most of them outright refusing to do so. Blackstar wasn't so sure that he'd made the right decision, himself. Littlecloud began to call out Dipper and Mabel's new names loudly, soon to be joined by Rowanclaw and Blackstar, and then spread through the Clan were cats that called out as well, before the whole Clan was cheering.

Mabel squished her cheeks, feeling like a new member of a club. She could see behind her eyes days filled with nothing but eating fish and petting kitties, while Dipper only looked around for anything that was off, aside from talking cats, anything. A triangle shape that turned out to be Bill, or for a monster to come out of the woods...something! When he couldn't find anything, he accepted his fate. He was now part of a cat cult that probably worshipped a magical pond of water.

"So, Blackstar, what now?" Dipper asked when the cheering had quieted down. A few cats gave him and Mabel distrustful glares from the dens.

Blackstar looked up to the sky. "It's still sunhigh. Your training could start right away."

Mabel snapped out of her daydream. "Training?" She and Dipper exchanged glances.

"Yes. As apprentices, I see no reason that you can't begin training like any other apprentice." Surely Dipper heard some cat comment that it was because they were Twolegs. "But, uh...I don't think we can train you normally."

"Why not?" Mabel asked, cradling two rather affectionate cats in her arms.

Blackstar suppressed the initial shock of seeing his Clanmates in the arms of a Twoleg, and pointed his nose to said Clanmates. "That's why." Mabel looked down at the two purring lumps of fur in her cozy sweater. Oh.

Blackstar questioned the impulsivity of his action to accept the twins into ShadowClan, now realising that he had no idea how to train them.

Rowanclaw stepped up to the twins and faced Blackstar, "So, what's your plan?" Blackstar looked them up and down.

"Are you any good at hunting?" he asked.

Dipper looked at Blackstar like he was looking into the camera on The Office, and Mabel giggled and brought her hands up by her face and mocked swipes in the air.

"Battle?" Rowanclaw asked, circling back around the front of them.

Dipper gave him an uneasy look. "I'm not going to hurt a cat." Mabel shook her head in agreement.

Blackstar began to think that this might have been a bad idea. "Can you look scary? Just enough so you won't have to attack?"

Dipper shrugged and waved his hand in that 'so-so' manner, making a little noise of mediocrity. Mabel nodded.

"Well, most Clan cats will run when they see a Twoleg coming anyway," Rowanclaw added. The Twoleg kits could come in handy if a patrol infringed on ShadowClan's borders.

Dipper and Mabel were taken to where ShadowClan trains their apprentices, and sat there for a little while as Blackstar and Rowanclaw thought up training exercises for them.

"Maplepaw, Pinepaw. Try to catch us when we run," Rowanclaw commanded, dashing away from them in unison with Blackstar. Both twins failed to get anywhere close to them. They continued this exercise until Dipper's knees were dirty and Mabel's sweater was stained, then moved on to another.

"Alright, try to sneak up on us from behind. Don't let us know you're there." Mabel was terrible at this, for she kept giggling and stepping too hard. Dipper hardly fared any better, as he kept mumbling to himself. The twins were no closer to catching Blackstar and Rowanclaw when the sun began to set, and they were led back to camp.

"And this is the apprentices' den," Blackstar said, showing them the space that was way too small to fit them and three other cats. "But maybe you wouldn't mind sleeping outside? We never built to accommodate Twolegs."

Dipper turned the word 'Twoleg' over in his mind, wondering why he called them this. Mabel lay out on the ground, her head resting on Dipper's lap, and he against a tree. He had the journal out in front of him, positioned awkwardly so he wouldn't be resting it on Mabel's face. There had to be a reason why these cats could speak to him. If only the journal held the answer! Without his blacklight, he couldn't see if invisible ink had been written on the page about the mysterious pond, or Moonpool, as he'd heard Littlecloud refer to it as, that told of the Clan that lived by the lake and worshipped it. Sighing, Dipper tucked the journal back into his vest and leaned against the tree again. Today had drained him on tedious tasks that he was sure were impossible. Nobody could catch a cat; at least, not him. It wasn't long before he was fast asleep.


End file.
